I don't understand why you would need 18 KW to run your house. I have a very large house, totally electric. I have an MEP003A, a 10 kw machine that feeds a 400 amp square D manual transfer switch. I don't have any load switching at all. We have frequent power outages because we live remotely on 40 acres in the mountains surrounded by national forest. Some outages have lasted a week or more, both summer and winter. When I start the MEP003A, it is business as usual. I don't pay any attention to what is turned on. The genset handles it all, albeit somewhat noisy. Just because there are a lot of things in the house that pull power, doesn't mean that they are all on at the same time. We run the HVAC, dryer, washer, dishwasher, etc. and have never had any problems. I like the MEP003A because it is very simple, easy to service and is air cooled, so no potential problems with liquid-based cooling systems. It puts out both single and three-phase power. It uses about 1 gallon of diesel per hour at full load and is very easy to start. Even my wife can start it without problems. I purchased it at auction in 2009 and it has run almost completely trouble-free since then. It was never rebuilt by the military and has 8085 total hours on it. It was freshly back from Iraq when I got it and is trailer-mounted, which makes it nice to be able to move it easily around our property when power is needed remotely. I previously also used it in three-phase to power a lot of three-phase power tools in my shop before a installed a rotary phase converter. Talk to other people that currently use 10 kw MEP gensets to power their houses for backup power.